Greek euro exit tops London summit on crisis

One of Italy’s leading bankers last night said it was more likely than not that Greece will leave the euro as London prepared to host a private global summit on the crisis.

Alessandro Profumo,formerly chief executive of UniCredit and now chairman of Italy’s number three lender Banca Monte dei Paschidi Siena, said Europe was stuck in ‘stalemate’.

Asked whether Greece will survive in the single currency, he said: ‘Today the chances of a Greek exit are quite high, above 50 per cent.’

Crisis: The single currency saw its largest weekly drop of the year last week as traders bet on a Greek exit

He added: ‘The euro is certainly at risk, but I am convinced that we will carry on, I am convinced the eurowill not blow up.’

The euro suffered its biggest weekly drop of the year last week as traders bet on a Greek exit and the crisis threatened to engulf Spain.The single currency fell more than 2 per cent against the dollar to below $1.25 before recovering slightly. It also traded below 80p against the pound.